Everest Base Camp - Day 1 Kuala Lumpur - Kathmandu

Our plane to Nepal

Trishaw in Thamel

Kalapatar Trekking Store

Main Street Thamel

Chilli Momos

Like all major trip, it must always have a drama. It spices up the trip so you have more stories for people. So welcome it. In our case, the flight was delayed for a full 2-3 hours, we were suppose to board at 6am and reach Kathmandu at 10am.

This was a nerve wrecking part cause we intended to spend the afternoon shopping for some last minute gear and suitable clothing for the cold weather up in the mountain.

So we ended up in Kathmandu around 12pm, by the time visa and customs were done, its about 2.30pm, hungry and a bit tired caused most of us got up at about 3am to make it to the airport. We went round to NJ ( our Guide ) office to sort out formality, fill in forms for the National Park permit, paid the money to NJ cause we couldn't be bother with carrying so much cash around.

He took us to the money changer across the road from his office to change our USD to Nepali Rupees and then its SHOPPING time. It was my first trip to Kathmandu. If i had a chance, I'll come again with an empty bag. In Thamel, the backpacker part of town you can get anything climbing, hiking, trekking & outdoor. I was like a kid let loose in the candy shop.

We went to this ultra cheap outlet call Kalapatar Trekking Store. The size of this store is probably 15 feet x 15 feet. I got my outer shell, ski pants and a few pieces of quick dry t-shirt. The whole cost me just under RM 150 ( less than USD 45 ). All north face imitation courtesy of Chaiman Mao's capitalism.

After the shopping bit, we went for our dinner at this local nepali shop specialising in Newari food. We had briyani, dhal bhat, aloo gobi ( cauliflower with potato ), chilli momos - this is good shit if you like spicy stuff. After dinner, we decided to go back to our room and knock off early.